PR and Communications Census 2018: 2018 will be “a defining year for diversity”

The PRCA has stated that 2018 “will be a defining year for diversity”, after revealing the positive findings of its PR and Communications Census.

The PRCA has launched the PR and Communications Census 2018, which reveals that the diversity statistics have shown improvement and the industry is making progress towards becoming more diverse, in comparison to the PR Census 2016.

This year’s figures mark a decrease from 83% to 78% in the predominance of White British practitioners, and a marginal decease in White practitioners overall, from 91% to 89%.  No individual ethnic groups have shown significant growth, but altogether, non-white ethnic groups are at 9%, up from 7% in 2016.

The most recent ONS UK Census in 2011 showed that White British made up 80.5% of the population. That means that for the first time since the PRCA began recording the industry’s diversity, the predominance of White British practitioners is lower than the national average. 

Younger PR professionals are more likely to be ethnically diverse, with 74% of 25-34-year olds identifying as White, compared to 79% in 2016. 

4% of PR practitioners have a disability, a 2% increase since 2016.

The PR and communications industry remains predominantly female. This year’s 66% majority marks a 2% percent increase from 2016. 

Pema Seely CMPRCA, Chairman, PRCA Diversity Network, and Senior Account Director, M&C Saatchi PR, said:

“It’s great to see progress, no matter how small. I hope with the introduction of the Diversity and Inclusion Guidelines earlier this year it will help our industry to continue to change and evolve. As I’ve said before, if we want to attract the best talent we need to create modern, inclusive environments – diversity is essential to creating it.” 

Francis Ingham MPRCA, Director General, PRCA, said:

“Our numbers show that the industry’s determined efforts to mirror more closely the people it deals with have produced results over the past two years, and that should be welcomed. However, the industry must be more proactive. We launched the Diversity and Inclusion Guidelines to give the industry a roadmap and the data in the Census shows that we have a long way to go. 2018 will be a defining year for diversity and we are calling on the industry to do much more.”

Links

https://www.prca.org.uk/

https://www.prca.org.uk/sites/default/files/PR%20and%20Communications%20Census%202018.pdf

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